IWBL: Chapter 170
At four o’clock in the afternoon, the president’s office.
Annie came to the reincarnator’s dormitory on time and took them to the place where they first came in.
The office was large and spacious with a mahogany desk, thick carpet and a pot of green plants near the window. It looked like a pot of hanging orchids. The leaves were very long and there were intertwined vertical patterns around an inverted wooden column in the middle.
Xiao Li remembered that this pot of green plants wasn’t present the last time he came here.
Behind the desk, President Sun had changed into a black suit with dark silver stripes. It was very valuable at first glance. He was also wearing a bowtie and his hair was covered with styling gel.
Xiao Li saw this and there was a guess in his heart. Was this man… going on a blind date?
He took his eyes off President Sun and turned to the other person in the office. This person was there the first time and he was still present now. He wore black-rimmed glasses and added a black jacket over his previous shirt, only showing the black star on the shirt.
This man sat on the other side of the desk with a notebook and pen in front of him. The notebook had a few lines of writing in it. It seemed as if they had just been talking about business and now he and President Sun were surveying the reincarnators.
Compared to last time, the man’s eyes were more focused and he took a closer look. He observed the reincarnators in front of him one by one. Finally, he looked at Xiao Li and examined him from top to bottom. The man’s eyes paused on Xiao Li’s pocket. Then he saw Xiao Li staring at him and smiled at Xiao Li.
Shen Chenzhi took a step in Xiao Li’s direction and blocked the man’s gaze. In a position where Xiao Li couldn’t see, he stared at the other person coldly. Shen Chenzhi’s eyes were too dangerous, especially when he glared at people like this. He was like an evil spirit climbing up from hell and he was scarier than any ghost.
The man couldn’t help looking away.
President Sun broke the silence at just the right time. “I am looking for everyone today to understand what happened last night.”
“Understand?” Fu Guangbo sneered. This man was really shameless. He knew how dangerous the exhibition halls were at night yet he still dared to ask.
He wasn’t the only one who thought this way. The others also showed this attitude more or less. It was just that President Sun was the boss here and they were worried there was a boss behind him, so they didn’t dare show it too much.
President Sun rubbed his hands together awkwardly and tried to organize his words. “I know that everyone has encountered a lot of dangers but we have paid you a sufficient price. You can get a lot of money.”
Zheng Yi spoke disdainfully. “Using money to buy lives?”
“You can’t say that. No matter how dangerous, it is your duty. You should do it.” President Sun told them. “I just want to ask you how you patrolled their exhibition halls. Perhaps your experience can be generalized.”
The moment this sentence emerged, Zheng Yi couldn’t help glancing in Xiao Li’s direction. Then he pretended that nothing had happened and shut up.
Fu Guangbo also looked at Xiao Li from the corner of his eye. He saw that this person didn’t mean to speak and understood that Xiao Li didn’t want to say anything. Fu Guangbo replied, “How else did we patrol? We just went in and checked.”
President Sun leaned forward. “How specifically did you check?”
Who on earth made those monsters look like that? How did they do it?
Fu Guangbo made a gesture like he didn’t know. “That’s it. We walked in and came out. That’s right, we haven’t asked you something. What is going on in those pavilions? How can it be like this at night? Why should we go in and patrol?”
President Sun smiled. “That isn’t something you can know.”
After all, this was an instance world and no one knew if President Sun was a hidden ghost or not. Therefore, Fu Guangbo didn’t intend to anger him.
The man sitting opposite President Sun changed his posture.
Seeing Fu Guangbo’s silence, President Sun’s face was ugly as he said, “If you don’t want to say it then I won’t make things difficult for you. Your task tonight isn’t the exhibition halls. It is to patrol here.”
Zheng Yi was stunned. “Here?”
“Yes, this floor of the office building at night.” President Sun spoke casually. “It is still the old rules. You must come in a check in. In any case, you can go now.”
The other man interjected at this time. He avoided Shen Chenzhi in a frightened manner but his voice was gentle and polite. “Since you have survived last night, you are eligible for this advice. If you want to live, just listen to me. Don’t… go to the exhibition halls.”
President Sun looked at him with some surprise.
Xiao Li wondered, “Why?”
The man picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip of the clear tea. “No reason. This is just my advice. You can choose to listen to me or not.”
“Who are you?”
The man didn’t answer. He just blew at the teacup in his hand and watched the tea leaves in the cup being blown. “You will know later.”
‘Maybe after you die,’ he added in his heart.
Xiao Li didn’t talk and he didn’t even look at the man. He just crossed to the pot of greenery and stared at the sky outside the window. It was four in the afternoon and there were already heavy clouds in the sky. The dark clouds were so low they seemed like they were going to fall down.
Xiao Li thought, ‘It is going to rain tonight.’
He had no opinion on this man’s attitude but Zheng Yi, standing behind Xiao Li, disliked this man for being too much. He thought the boss was too stylish when Xiao Li acted like this but once it came to the stranger, he felt the other person deserved a beating.
Perhaps this was the legendary brainless fan filter. Even so, Zheng Yi wasn’t ashamed. He was proud of it.
He glared at the man until President Sun drove them out of his office.
***
After returning to the dormitory, Zheng Yi opened his mouth. “Today, we actually need to patrol here? The office building? I’m suddenly reminded of an office ghost movie.”
“To a certain extent, it is because of Hercule. We cleared the exhibition halls last night thanks to him. I thought there would be some changes in President Sun today…” Fu Guangbo tried to speculate on the current situation. “He asked us to patrol here. Could it be that there are changes here at night? In addition, who is the man opposite President Sun? He told us to stay away from the exhibition halls… will there be ghosts in the exhibition halls tonight?”
He had many questions and wanted to analyze it with his teammates—mainly the bigshot.
Xiao Li took out that little yellow book that had been in his pocket, opened it and rubbed the pages with his fingers while remaining silent.
The secret here seemed to be quite interesting.
“I asked Annie about the man opposite President Sun.” Chen Jinghan answered one of Fu Guangbo’s questions. “She only said that he is President Sun’s friend and is one of the main people in charge of Future Theme Park. He doesn’t have a specific position but he is very nice.”
“He’s weird and President Sun’s reaction is also very strange. They seem to know what is going to happen tonight. So shall we stay in the office building tonight?” Ye Zeqing asked in Xiao Li’s direction.
Xiao Li didn’t look up. “Can you feel if he is a ghost or not?”
Ye Zeqing shook his head and shrugged. “I can’t feel it.”
Xiao Li hesitated a bit before blinking slowly. “…If there really is a change in the exhibition halls tonight, we must take a look.”
Fu Guangbo choked and coughed.
Ye Zeqing wasn’t too surprised. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
“Then we’ll go together.” Fu Guangbo and the others were daring when they followed Xiao Li and didn’t try to dissuade him. “Before it gets dark, I’ll ask other people about the office building to see if I can get any clues.”
The rest of them went outside. Unexpectedly, Shen Chenzhi also stood up. He stood in front of Xiao Li and stared at Xiao Li for a moment. “What do you want for dinner?”
He asked naturally like the boys in school grabbing food for their friends.
Xiao Li was thinking about something, and he answered naturally. “…Whatever?”
The young man sat at the table with the little yellow book in front of him, one hand still touching him. He seemed casual and like this was every day. The appearance that he had never seen before made Shen Chenzhi freeze.
He couldn’t help pressing his hand to Xiao Li’s shoulder. He felt the protrusion of the other person’s shoulder blades through the layer of clothing. Then he quickly took away his hand before the other person could react. He walked out like nothing happened.
Xiao Li was left alone in this room and he faced the little yellow book in a daze. It was very dark outside the window and the light on the ceiling was turned on, illuminating this part of the world. Xiao Li stretched out a hand to push the little yellow book a bit further away. Then he pulled out a pen and looked at it from another angle.
…He looked just like a middle school student looking at a textbook.
The long-silent little yellow book finally gave a reaction. [What are you thinking about?]
Xiao Li wrote: [The clues.]
[I thought you were thinking about me.] The little yellow book showed. [Do you know what I’m thinking?]
The little yellow book was much less active than before but strangely, Xiao Li still felt it was familiar. It was like a ‘friend’ being around him every day, although the ‘friend’ loved to tease him.
Before Xiao Li could reply, the little yellow book sighed. […I want to kiss you.]
[I want to get up from a bed with you, watch you sitting on the table, hug you directly from behind, naturally say ‘I want you to watch me’ and kiss you. If I can, I will never get enough of kissing you.]
[I have recently wanted to lock you up and keep you by my side more and more. No one else is allowed to look at you. Only I can see you. Then I think about how you won’t like it and I can only endure desperately. In the end, this has become a habit.]
[I have never been patient before.]
…Obviously, I can follow you in an open manner. It is already a gift compared to the days when I could only watch you from a distance. However, recently it has been hard to bear.
I have long been infatuated with you. I want you as long as it is you. When can you… look at me?
—He didn’t even dare to show these words.